Editorial: Al-Qaida feeding off Iraq

Thursday, July 19, 2007 | 7:25 a.m.

I n the opinion of Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the all-night effort by Senate Democrats to reach agreement on a proposal to withdraw most U.S. forces from Iraq by April was "nothing more than a publicity stunt."

Really?

A Newsweek poll conducted July 11 and 12 asked, "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq?" Only 27 percent approved, while 68 percent did not approve. That should tell Kyl the Democrats are not engaged in a publicity stunt. They are trying to carry out the will of the American people.

Once again, however, Senate Republicans voted against the Democratic effort to redirect the main forces of the United States toward al-Qaida and away from the civil war in Iraq. Sixty votes were needed to advance the proposal, but Republican opposition caused it to fall short by eight.

And if the majority view of the country is not enough for Kyl and his Republican colleagues, there is the latest National Intelligence Estimate. It was released Tuesday, hours before the all-night debate began.

Representing the consensus of all U.S. intelligence agencies, the NIE said al-Qaida "has protected or regenerated key elements of its Homeland attack capability ... (It has been able) to recruit and indoctrinate operatives, including for Homeland attacks. " What this means is that al-Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for 9/11, is not "on the run" as Bush likes to say, but is very much entrenched along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where it is has the time and security to plot more attacks on America.

Bringing attention to al-Qaida's ever-growing threat while our armed forces are stuck in the middle of a sectarian war in Iraq is no publicity stunt.